IDAHOBIT 18: Enhancing the candidate experience

This blog was written in collaboration with Kathryn Tyrer and Lucy Nicholls, Resourcing Partners for Sodexo.

To mark International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) the team at Sodexo Resourcing HQ wanted to share some insight into the enhancements we have made to our CareersCentre and our introduction of new gender neutral titles so that our candidates feel fully inclusive and comfortable in the application process.

For some people, ticking a box on an application form doesn’t take a 2nd thought, its nothing more than a mindless tick that you will never reflect on again, but for some of us its not so simple.

When asked to choose between ticking “Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms”, many individuals who do not identify with a particular gender have for decades felt forced into choosing the wrong box.

In the Sodexo Resourcing Team we were keen to address this, as we want candidates to not feel forced into choosing the wrong box and so to allow candidates to be themselves from day one we have introduced Mx, Ind, M, Mre, Msr, Myr, Pr, Sai, Ser or Misc to our application process.

We spoke to Kathryn Tyrer, Resourcing Partner, who is leading the way with these changes to our CareersCentre and asked her why this is an important enhancement:

Kathryn was first inspired when she attended the Sodexo Diversity & Inclusion Conference in 2017 and was immediately drawn to a presentation by Leng Montgomery, D&I Executive for Sainsbury’s and Inclusion specialist, who opened Kathryn’s mind to what more we can do in the recruitment world so that all candidates, especially anyone who identifies as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans) can be themselves from day one when making the decision to apply for a new job. Specifically, he talked through some of the amazing work that HSBC have done with the introduction of new salutations for their credit card customers.

Kathryn immediately became an ally to the community and set about looking into how we can do this for our candidates “I really wanted to ensure that we are embracing all communities in our search for talent and I strongly believe in action speaking louder than words. By adding new salutations to our application process I hope that candidates can truly feel themselves when applying to a job at Sodexo”